August 21, 2019

Welcome to Catch it at the Comic Shop, where the Panel Patter team looks at what's coming out at your favorite store or digital device this week. Each one of us that participates picks up to five items due out this week, with a little bit about why we like them. (NOTE: We use solicitation material for this, so if we miss creators, please talk to your publisher!) Sometimes we might only have a few items to share, other weeks, keeping it to five will make for hard choices. Here's what the team wanted to highlight this week...

Rob's Picks:

Stronghold #5 by Phil Hester, Ryan Kelly, Dee Cunniffe, and Simon Bowland, published by Aftershock
What do you do when living your life freely likely means the destruction of everything on Earth? Damned if I know, but Hester/Kelly/Cunniffe/Bowland will present one possible answer in the conclusion of this series featuring an all-powerful being that was deluded into thinking he was just like the rest of us. His desire for freedom, aided by a woman trained to keep him deceived has been a great ride, offering an amazing commentary on the power of choice and the needs of the many versus the needs of the few, not to mention the lengths those watching over us go to to "protect" things as they are. There's plenty of deep philosophical meat on these bones, drawn with extreme detail by one of my favorites, Ryan Kelly, who's equally able to keep up the mundane appearances alongside monstrous, bloody events. If you didn't pick this up yet, you're missing out.

Eerie Archives Vol 27 by Various Creators, published by Dark Horse (originally Warren)
We're in a new golden age of horror comics, and part of that is being able to re-read some of the classics from the past. I'd be lying if I said I've caught up on every volume of these reprints, but I read them whenever I can, and since this is the last of the Eerie series, I wanted to highlight it and remind people that Dark Horse has done some amazing work getting these back into the hands of horror comic readers. This final addition has Don McGregor (Black Panther) and many others rounding out the last eight issues. If you want to see the building blocks so many great people working today cut their teeth on by reading, make sure you pick this one (or any of the others!) up.

Batman Kings of Fear by Scott Peterson, Kelley Jones, and others, published by DC Comics
Kelley Jones plays in the Batman sandbox again, with the Scarecrow as the protagonist. Need I say more? For those who may not be aware, Jones started off his Bat career doing covers around the time Bruce's back was broken, using his exaggerated style to give us a Batman that defied reality visually in the same way that his actions already did. It's a concept you either love or hate, and I credit Jones with helping me understand that not every comic had to look like classic Marvel. Over the decades since, he's done multiple weird books like this one, and I've enjoyed them all. I don't expect this one to be any different.